Launch Day
Before Launch Day
In the week leading up to the scheduled launch day, Nathan, the KAOS-1 Project Lead, ran the flight prediction software every day to find a good launch site. Habhub takes the Latitude/Longitude of launch sites, the Launch Altitude (in meters), Launch Time (UTC), Launch Date, Ascent Rate (m/s), Balloon Burst Height (meters), and Descent Rate (m/s) as inputs and outputs a predicted flight path.
The Knights Satellite Club was looking at a few possible launch locations two days before launch: Econ River Wilderness Area, Sunrise Community Park, Sanlando Park, and the Oviedo Sports Complex.
Figure 1: Launch Trajectory From Econ River Wilderness Area (28.6134, -81.1742)
Figure 2: Launch Trajectory From Sunrise Community Park (28.6523, -81.2585)
Figure 3: Launch Trajectory From Sanlando Park (28.6759, -81.3964)
Figure 4: Launch Trajectory From Oveido Sports Complex (28.6692, -81.1872)
On August 29th, 2025, the Econ River Wilderness Area was chosen as the best-suited launch site as the payload was predicted to land in Wedgefield, Florida, approximately 2 hours after launch. The FAA was also notified of this launch.
Launch Day
The morning on August 30th, 2025, the Knights Satellite Club drove out to the Econ River Wilderness Area at 8 am and began setting up. To learn more about inflating and rigging a balloon for flight, please visit the High Altitude Free Balloons page.
Payload Preparation
More in depth technical regulations and HAB launching information can be found here. The final additions made to the payload leading up to or on launch day were minor and made intentionally to not interfere with any systems onboard the payload. This included attaching dense foam to the bottom and some of the edges of the payload bus to help with ground impact. Taping a sheet of paper to the top of the bus stating that what the box was and our contact info to aid with recovery if a pedestrian found the project before we got to it. The final preparations included rigging the payload with masonry line and 3D printed PETG O-rings and carabiners before connecting it to our inflated balloon.
Balloon Launch!
After preparing the payload, the balloon train was constructed. A 5-foot line of string connected the top of the parachute and the Balloon together, then a 360-degree swivel eyebolt was attached to the bottom of the parachute to prevent the balloon train from winding up and popping the balloon. Below the parachute was another 10 feet of string before attaching to the payload.
At approximately 10:07 am EDT, the balloon was released, and KAOS-1 took flight.
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